Army eyeing Iit-made UAV for border patrolling
WHAT CAN IT DO
NEW DELHI: Researchers at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur have developed India’s first low-altitude longendurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that could be used for anything from patrolling the border to traffic and crowd monitoring.
The aircraft, called P1, is commanded by a computer pilot on the ground. It can fly for more than 10 hours continuously, at an altitude of up to 5,000ft and has a wide operating radius of 150km.
“We anticipate both civilian and military applications. The system could even carry Chromium sensors on it and fly over river Ganga to measure the pollution levels ” co principal told the Hindustan Times.
The UAV had its first field trial on August 14 and can be The aircraft called P1 is commanded by an auto pilot from the ground and can fly up to an altitude of 5,000 feet and has an endurance of more than 10 hours traffic and crowd monitoring (in case of riots) or crop and pollution surveillance The armed aircraft for its use.
The project started in January 2014 and was jointly funded by IIT Kanpur and Prabhu Goel foundation. “The entire system was designed using a systems engineering approach, to meet the desired specifications and tar get the need of Low Altitude Long Endurance (LALE). During the initial test flights at IIT Kanpur air strip, we were able to reach an altitude of 1,000 feet,” Philip told HT.
IIT Kanpur and Aurora Integrated Systems of Bangalore collaborated in the testing and manufacturing of the aircraft. The UAV is a prod uct of synergy between start-up firms and academic institutions that promote an entrepreneuri